Austin City Limits music fastival brings GIFT!

Next week, the Austin City Limits Music Festival is going to bring a major gift to music lovers — 130 acts on eight stages in three days. What these music fans may not know is that ACL also means major gifts of tickets and cash donations to local nonprofits.

There’s a year-round charitable side to the ACL Festival that’s often overshadowed by music festivities.

C3 Presents, the production company behind ACL and Lollapalooza music festivals, makes a point of giving back to the communities in which it host events. In Austin, C3’s giving spans health care, education, food banks, environmental, literacy and music/arts education charities.

“It’s a part of everything we do, whether its volunteering, mentoring or going to speak to classes,” said Lisa Hickey, C3’s director of marketing. “It’s a big part of the company culture. The partners at C3 really want us to get involved in the community.”

Every year, C3 gives away free ACL passes to nonprofits, which use those tickets to raise money for their individual charities. For ACL, C3 donates about $50,000 in tickets to charities and community outreach programs. For Lollapalooza in Chicago, it donates about $45,000 in tickets.

Last year, C3 donated roughly $875,000 to the Austin Parks Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit that advocates for bonds and funding to acquire parkland and improve park facilities. C3’s annual gift, which is based on a percentage of each ticket sale, has gone to fund several park projects around town, including the Zilker Tree Rescue Project and the Barton Creek Greenbelt project.

Carolyn Schwarz, executive director of HAAM, said that C3 became an underwriter for HAAM Benefit Day this year with its $20,000 contribution.

C3 “has made a concerted effort to give back locally,” Schwarz said, adding that South By Southwest Music Festival has also been a big contributor to HAAM. “These are for-profits making money off a music festival, but the people who work for them are thinking about how to give to the community and how to help a nonprofit working with our musicians.”

Like this:

Related

Austin creates an oasis of desirable communities that are touched by the beauty of it's presence. I'm one resident who considers myself fortunate to be a part of the Austin lifestyle.
Combining a passion for my work with love for my community, I've earned my place among Austin's leading real estate professionals. I bring to every transaction a personal touch, innovative marketing techniques and in-depth knowledge of today's complex market to ensure your home sale or purchase is a success from start to finish. Put my team of experts to work for you today